Infosys, a major Indian IT services company, has laid off 755 trainees out of 5,000 offered jobs in 2022. These layoffs follow a two-year delay in their joining and stricter assessment criteria, raising the passing threshold from 50% to 65%.
The IT industry's growth has stagnated, impacting Infosys. Increased pressure from clients demanding quicker turnarounds at lower costs has led to increased utilization rates (83% in FY25 from 77% in FY23), placing pressure on freshers.
The rise of AI poses a significant existential threat, potentially disrupting 38 million jobs globally by 2030, according to the EY AIDEA report. Software and IT support roles are particularly vulnerable.
Picture Infosys during recruitment season: packed buses full of fresh, starry-eyed graduates rolling into the IT services company’s Mysuru training campus. Except this year, the buses were on their way out.
Of the 5,000 graduates offered jobs in 2022—the majority of whose joining was delayed by two years—755 have been laid off so far for failingmoneycontrolDreams shattered, careers in limbo after two and a half years' wait: Inside Infosys trainee layoffs to clear tests. And it’s not over. The latest layoffs were two weeks ago. For the rest, the lastest Java test was on 13 May, and the database management systems test will be on 20 May.
The assessments this time were tougher than usual, said five trainees and ex-employees The Ken spoke to. The threshold for passing was raised from 50% to 65%. On top of this, new material was added, and the number of questions was increased.
Then again, the times are changing. India’s IT-services industry has been a driver of economic growth for over two decades, contributing 7%StatistaShare of Information technology/business process management sector in the GDP of India from financial year 2009 to 2024 with estimate of 2025 to the country’s GDP and employing over 5 millionIndia Brand Equity FoundationIndian IT & BPM Industry Analysis people in FY24. But over the last three years, growth has stagnated—the ongoing tariff uncertainties being just the latest setback. The real existential threat is AI, set to upend 38 million jobs across sectors by 2030, according to the EY AIDEA report. At the forefront of this disruption are software and IT support roles.
The pressure is already on. Clients want quicker turnarounds on smaller budgets. Companies, in turn, have found the perfect patsy: pre-trained freshers, compelled to jump into projects from the get-go.
Take Infosys’ utilisation ratea key performance metric that measures how effectively employees are spending their time on billable work, including trainees, which has shot up to 83% in FY25 from roughly 77% in FY23.
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